When we see a horse weighing 1000 kg or more we immediately think “how much this horse has to eat, it certainly has a huge stomach”, but we are in a slight mistake. And why? Well, because the stomach of a big horse is relatively small. Its size is between 12 and 20 litres. Some people think that horses are still hungry because they graze and graze for hours. But this is a bad observation, because the horse’s stomach is adapted to the continuous intake of food, the slow filling up and the shifting of the nutritional content as it is called in the rest of the way.
For this body to function well, we need to respect certain basic principles:
The animal should have constant access to food, which will be slowly taken up and rubbed, a hay net with small meshes becomes useful, so that the horse can pick itself up. Or a hay ladder if someone uses it, but with such holes that the horse does not pull out too much hay but picks up small portions of it. Who prefers, but I think it’s understandable.
Or serve small quantities of concentrated feed at a time (max. 0.5 kg per 100 kg horse’s body weight).
Care for cleanliness of feed, without unnecessary impurities, mould, etc.
Try to minimise the stress factors affecting the animal
Observe the feeding rules, i.e. regularly at fixed times, and feed volumetric feed before the concentrate.
Avoid feeding feed causing nutrient balls to form in the stomach (do not give wheat)
Provide the horses with peace of mind while eating and with food for between 30 and 60 minutes.
Sometimes even in spite of such methods the horse still has a problem with the stomach, which are :
Breakage of the stomach due to overfilling with nutrients and/or gases
The formation of ulcers and erosions by the action of acids on the stomach mucous membrane
I have given here two examples of illnesses, because unfortunately there may be more. The horse cannot vomit the food because it has a specific pylon position and the angle at which it falls from the oesophagus into the stomach.
In general, and on this subject, the function of the stomach is to reduce the pH of the ingested food, as well as to partially digest easily digestible carbohydrates, fatty acids, minerals and vitamins.
A pony stomach is it really as big as the owner of
